The Riddle Sandbox

Question

Where am I!?

This is Puzzling Stack Exchange's Official Riddle Sandbox™!

Users who wish to post riddles can post them here first, and receive feedback, development advice and guidance before posting them on the main site. Writing good riddles the first time can be difficult, and this is intended to help us all discuss quality and ultimately improve the site.

Posting here is not required. You are free to do so anyway, though, if you would like the feedback before posting your riddle.

To post in the sandbox, post as you would normally. You may include a solution - if you decide to do so, it should be spoilered, at the bottom of the post. Include the tags you plan to use, too: they can be formatted using [tag:tagname].

The ultimate goal of the sandbox is to help you improve your puzzle before it's posted on the main site. Once puzzles are posted on the main site, and people are already coming up with answers, it becomes much harder to edit and fix them; here, though, they're freely editable.

Here are a few important guidelines and tips for people who wish to help with sandboxed posts:

• Remember to be nice. The link is worth a re-read, even if you know what it says. We're ultimately here to help each other, and it's important to be sensitive to the work people put into their riddles.
• If participating in the sandbox for a question has given you an advantage when the question is posted on the main site, please don't answer it on the main site. People often put a lot of work into these riddles, and it’s discouraging when no one gets a chance to think about the riddle because someone else with prior knowledge scooped the answer.
• Offer positive feedback when you see something done particularly well - don't just focus on the improvement. This will not only encourage the riddle creator, but will help others to recognize what goes into making a quality riddle.
• Please don't answer questions in comments here when the solution is not provided.
• Focus on the problem, not the person.
• Return to check up on posts you've already seen, and vote/give specific feedback.

The sandbox works best if you sort posts by "active."

Also, feel free to ask questions in the riddle sandbox chat!

Thanks, and happy puzzling!

Answer 1

I know this isn't necessary, but I would like feedback on this word-puzzle (plus I am unsure what tag I should use).

Not a snail's word

A word of four letters make me,
Related to speed I may be.
Unlike a snail, I am not slow,
Use a magnifying glass and you'll know!

Take off my first and flip me around,
And what do you know, now I'm a sound!
Used to communicate for non-human ears,
Am I heard in a city? Afraid not, my dears!

Remove my first and replace with another,
And now I'm something the dead might utter.
Or perhaps I'm yelled during a play,
When actors are not at their best for that day.

Now take last removed and append at end,
And I become something that's difficult to mend.
Why, if around me exists an obstruction,
With little problem I bring its destruction.

What was the original word, and the ones following?

Answer 2

Yay, first riddle!

I have 256 slots,
of which 10 are wasted!
I can produce objects lots...
...with just 246 slots!!!

My name is long
My fame is undisputable
I can sing a song
with a graphic unconfusable!!

Answer 3

So I've read quite a few (although never been able to answer). Kind of had an idea for a riddle on my way home. Possibly rubbish, but worth a punt in here: what do you guys think?

---

Round and Round,

Driven by Man or Horse.

An enemy of Power,

Repeated Throughout History.

Enjoyed with Bacon and Tea,

When I arrive, I change everything.

What Am I?

Answer 4

Haven't posted a proper riddle before, and figured I should probably let someone give it the ol' Sniff Test (TM) before letting it loose in the wild. Apologies to Riley...[xkcd comic]

What am I?

To start? I negate winter's chill
My heart? Its roots grow deep and sound
In the end? Surely that (if you will)
My code is my self until found.

Answer 5

Sealed Tree Logs Make Five

My friend invited me to a club, however, he stipulated that I must first NAME the club before I could join. I asked how on earth I could possibly know the name, and he provided me this picture:

What is the name I need to tell my friend to join the club? And what is the relevance of the name of this question?

Sandbox

I have added a non-sequitur name, but it should make sense when the solution is found. Also, part of the question is the relevance of the title. Exactly how important should that be to the solution, or should I remove it? (I have a feeling some people will be confused (and never learn what it means) if no-one solves it in their answer though)

Answer 6

The following words have synonyms that build a famous phrase:

along huge skill appear big duty

What is the famous phrase?

Any tips on how to improve. Or if this is too easy how to make it more difficult
Also, what tags to use.

Answer 7

Not sure if this is still used at all, but I'm looking for feedback.

Amber, leather, fruit, or pine. Whiskey, crackers, never wine.

White and red across a sea. Or clad twice in sable, burgundy.

Hidden, swung, hooked, flown. Suited, bottled, jumping, thrown.

You'll never get me if you're slow. Who I am? Well, "You don't know..."

Answer 8

What is this place?

They brought me to this place last week.

It is a place of knives, wires and pincers. Throughout day and night, the silence is broken by screams of unbearable agony and unprecedented terror.

They put the wires on me and cut me with the knives when the pincers didn't work.

I have slept here more safe and happy than ever before in my life. I think I'd like to come back here.

Where am I?

Solution:

The place is a maternity ward. The screams are from women in labor (unbearable agony) and newborn infants (unprecedented terror from all the new experiences). The narrator was connected to a life sign monitor (wires) and when delivery by forceps (pincers) didn't work, she had an emergency C-section (knives). She is safe (monitored by doctors) and happy (about her new baby) and thinks she wants to have more children.

riddle

Answer 9

With all my faults that make me quake,
this state I’m in tends to shake.

Not quite brown and not quite red,
stuck on an island it could be said.

Esto hace muchos años pasado Y2K,
you can see me, in night and day.

Who am I?

Answer 10

I saw the Riley format going around and I like it, so I'm posting here first to get some feedback:

My prefix takes what it was not meant to have
My suffix shares what others have already shared
My infix wants to wander the world
But altogether, I'd rather just stay home

riddle

Hint:

My prefix and suffix are both abbreviations, one in sports and one online.

Are there any tags I'm missing from a Riley Riddle like this? What's the difficulty level? Any improvements you can suggest, especially any idea for a title?

Answer 11

Can you figure out the next number in the sequence?

1
3
5
59
245
2,491

Hint 1

Interview Question or Pathbreaking puzzle

Hint 2

Think binary

Solution: The next two numbers in the sequence

235,253
127,756,731

Explanation of the sequence

It is the Look-and-say sequence for binary numbers converted to decimal. So:
Decimal Binary Explanation
1 1 one(1)
3 11 one(1) one(1)
5 101 two(10) one(1)
59 111011 one(1) one(1) one(1) zero(0) one(1) one(1)
245 11110101 three(11) one(1) one(1) zero(0) two(10) one(1)

I came up with this sequence. Would this make for a good question?

Answer 12

This is a rather short one but should be obvious to most users of this site (or not):

What do you call a lot of pieces of paper from which a few have fallen down?

Please give me some advide whether this would be a good puzzle.

Answer 13

The Disdainful God

My name is held, in present time, with less regard than past. I work the seas, without your praise. It is I who’ll long out-last.

Answer:

The Moon - I’m worried it’s too obvious, I intended the god part to be a red herring of sorts.

There is also a secret solution path hidden in the first line, hinted by the language tag. I’m still new to the etiquette of this site and am open to criticism. Hint:

Translate

Secret path:

Present tense of held is hold, hold in Hungarian is moon. I couldn’t think of a proper title or riddle hint for Hungarian (please suggest).

riddle wordplay language

Answer 14

This is my first riddle, so I'd appreciate any feedback / suggestions.

You come across a door, guarded by two mysterious men. As you start to figure out how to tell which one is lying and which one is telling the truth, they say in unison:

WELCOME, TRAVELER, TO REIBELLO'S RIDDLE REPOSITORY. SHOULD YOU SEEK ENTRY, YOU'LL HAVE TO SOLVE A SIMPLE PUZZLE.

You quickly agree to hear the puzzle. You also notice that their voices are different. One is deep and strong, while the other is softer, and strangely emphatic about his words.

Our first AND second facilitate, that which you need to operate.

Each alone, is not correct, but read aloud make our subject.

Our third is imprecise at best, but gladly taken on a test.

Our fourth is five- IT IS TWO! We disagree. But it's also half of twenty-three.

Our fifth is fifth. All the clue you'll need, I reckon. But just in case, it's also our second.

Our sixth and last, core of our planet round, but don't go quite as far in underground.

Our riddle complete, answer if you dare. Six letters, and no more, WE SWEAR.

What word are the mysterious men looking for?

I have an alternate line for letter 4 - tell me if you think it's better / worse / easier / harder please and thank you.

Our fourth is five- It's two. His clues are the worst. It's also half of what is first.

Answer 15

^{Title is still yet to be decided}

I was playing a game and thought of this problem:

Rules

1. There are 4 distinct tiles on a $6\times6$ grid.
2. You can shift all the tiles in one of the four cardinal directions (north, south, west, east) until they hit a wall or a tile.
3. After every move, a new tile appears on the grid.
4. If three or more same tiles line up orthogonally (not diagonally), these blocks disappear.

This game is a mix of Match 3 and 2048. Here is an example screenshot. The player can shift the tiles down and the 3 green H-tiles will be removed from the game:

Question: Is it guaranteed to never lose in this game?

Answer 16

Enter the Vermillion

Answer 17

Since I made first puzzle proly too hard, I try it here first. Only changed actual puzzle to A,B,C,..etc. Please write some comment what you think about it and how to change it. I wanted to do it like meta-puzzle, but it would end like my first puzzle

Part 1:
Find: YYyy-MM-dd (years-months-days)

YY = Current difference between A and B in days
yy = roman numbers In teXt
MM = Difference between D and E (some number, hard to see in given context)
dd = Only day in june, when something F

(if you find something like 20 months, add 1 year to yy and now you have 8 months)

Part 2:
After you find wiki-date, or you knew about it: Solve x and y, where G and F are given from that wiki-date-page:
19*G+2*F+0.00743331 = x^y-y
What is yx?

Sadly I could not find alternative for that 0.00743331. That is my main concern.

Answer 18

I am not new to puzzling. But a puzzle I posted and then deleted is of interest to me. I want your feedback on how I can make this better. It was commented that the puzzle was too broad. I feel it is an interesting and hard puzzle.

Can you give me an English Surname with at least 12 english names/nicknames appearing in its spelling sequencially. Cannot rearrange letters. The names must come from a reputable site like Wikipidia or Usefulenglish.ru. My solution has 13 (may be 14) names/nicknames in it. Example : JACKSON has Jack, Jason, Jon, Jan in it.

I did my research and there are not that many surnames with more than 12 names/nicknames within their spelling.

Answer 19

I'd like to post this to the main site, but am not sure of the difficulty level, or if it's interesting to solve. Any thoughts/suggestions?

I'm not a mammal, no flier-by-night,
(though I too have been known to give you a fright).

And you might just stutter when finding my name
(but I'll give you energy to try again).

My end is quite short - and it's part of a key.
(Just please use the right way to dispose of me!)

And I can't decide if this should be part of the riddle, or a hint:

Still stuck? Here, try this: you can buy me with money,
or sometimes with Na, if you're being funny.

Answer 20

quite new here and looking to post my first question/puzzle soon-ish. This is what I have so far:

I have seen this story unfold in a few different forms, but I think the general flow of it goes something like this:

Once upon a time on a small pes of land
Ruled by the rainy, devious, Irish and tin-clad
Was a community built on strange inquiries
And those that answered received strange currencies.

One day a citizen had one such request
And claimed it to be the true test
Of this people's resources and skills
So sure enough some doubt was instilled.

No course of action was made for this task.
The citizen thought 'Was this too much to ask?'
A day went by, then two, then three, then four
To the point that this citizen seemed ignored.

So he created an incentive with his powers
That would last one hundred and sixty-eight hours
In the hopes of garnering some attention
Lest his problem reach a form of ascension.

The hunters of this land took notice of the prize
But knew they had to be both skillful and wise
For such an incentive would only quench one hunter's thirst
In order to claim it they'd need to be correct, and first.

The hunters gathered and laid down their plans
Finishing with a race of the deftest hands
Credit was given where credit was due
But still the prize was for one and not two.

With the citizen's problem resolved by the answers he's seen
Fellow hunters were envious but the victor was green
This hunter finally took his prize home
One chocolate-covered coconut dome.

What is it about?

Looking for advice on accuracy or with cleaning up the vocabulary/grammar used to hopefully sound a little less awkward but keep a rhyming scheme. [Or if this is close enough to another puzzle already on the main site so as to make this a duplicate :( ]

Or any feedback in general, thanks in advance!

Answer 21

A hopefully, about to be, entry in the Fortnightly Topic Challenge. This is my first riddle (and my first poem in a long while) so feedback to improve it would be appreciated.

Appropriate Term

The day was hard
and full of play
and after I went to sleep.
And when I woke
I had forgot
the place where I counted sheep.

I looked about
locale to find
in desperation I searched,
for striking things
were all about
and I knew not where I perched.

A cloud was first
that I observed,
fluffy and pleasantly firm.
'Twas where my head
had found its rest,
and gently slept for a term.

In top of tree,
floating, carefree,
I'd slept on a lily pad.
Upon a lake
took place my rest
that made of me a nomad.

Outside was cold,
no comfort there,
yet shivers did not connote,
for I did rest
in comfort warm,
under sheep's fine woolen coat.

Above my head
a dark sun rose,
hiding in fear behind shield.
By fragile shell,
its airy core,
and hardened center were sealed.

Behind the star
a dozen friends,
all radiant they did gleam.
All glowing green
with five points each --
mysterious, this daydream.

Beyond it yet,
and further still,
craters of thrilling beauty.
Behind the stars
floated the moon,
in place as was its duty.

Down at my feet
a dark cave lay,
its entrance greater than I.
I thought it might
if had the chance
give chase and cause me to fly.

Inside I saw
the outlines of
tapestries hung up on high.
Yet all were turned
toward the side
their faces left to mind's eye.

Across the floor
animals roamed
rabbits, a fox and a bear.
I looked away
and turned again --
only mock animals there.

Upon wood legs
a flat top rests
its features all knots and lines.
Quiet and still
it stands and waits
like all its ancestral pines.

And on this top
a tiny pond
water line over the shore.
The tallest for
its narrowness
I had ever seen before.

And there nearby
a flower danced
five blades about its center.
Inside its cage
it whirled (what fright!)
my fingers dared not enter.

Next to the pond,
some crystals grew,
all bright illuminated.
Dots and numbers,
letters they formed,
and stars they dominated.

Behind me then
a great space glowed,
got brighter by the minute.
Though light was blocked
by slats of wood
eyes hurt as luck would have it.

Where am I now?
Where have I gone?
I have great need to confirm.
I ask you now,
I need to know,
please: The appropriate term.

---

Solution

Each stanza except the first two and last one refers to a different thing. They are, in order: A pillow, a waterbed, blankets, a light bulb (behind its fixture), glow-in-the-dark star stickers, the roof (textured), a closet, clothes, stuffed animals, an end table, a cup of water, a fan, an alarm clock, and a window (with wooden blinds). The final solution is that I'm exactly where you'd expect me to be sleeping: My bedroom.

---

These tags seem appropriate:

riddle wordplay poetry

Answer 22

what about this:

In a multiverse where arguably people are falling into "oblivion"....

This guy and his lot, always making things complicated.
Fortunately, I found that thing that makes rpg'ers feel heroic.
A distress, and its sibling bit
Time for Olympics! Go, go, go!
Let's admire the museum art.
Are you nuts?
Or religious?
It's hot in here.
Psychologist.
HA! Now YOU need a psychologist.

And I'm not even mentioning the birds....

Note: I suppose it needs the knowledge tag

Answer 23

I'd like to get some feedback on whether this would be appropriate to post as a puzzle:

9     8 7 7     7  
H     H H D     CS

In case the formatting got messed up... There's a 9 displayed above an H, then a large gap, then an 8 above an H, then a small gap, then a 7 above an H, then a small gap, then a 7 above a D, then a large gap, then a 7 above CS.

The puzzle is to work out what it means.

The reason I'm asking here first is because it's not a puzzle per-se, but rather a note I made on my phone a while ago and then trashed. I recently came across it again and am trying to work out what it means! :-D

Answer 24

I have a puzzle, but I'm not sure if it's too similar to some of the existing puzzles on the site. I'd like feedback on whether or not this is too similar. Other feedback is welcome, of course.

Here's the puzzle:

I work downtown Monday through Friday. I was making my evening commute once, and while I was stopped at the intersection of Puzzle Street and Riddle Avenue, I noticed something very strange about one of the crosswalk timers. Normally, they count down in order to indicate how many seconds a pedestrian has left to cross. But I happened to notice that one of them wasn't counting down properly! I watched as the numbers counted like this: 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 8, 9, 4, 3, 2, 1. I ignored it at first, but I saw the same thing happen a few days later, and again a few days after that. I decided to call the city's road maintenance office, and they told me they'd send someone to take a look at the problem. The next day, I got a call saying that they sent a technician out, but the technician said the crosswalk timer seemed to be working just fine. And yet, that very evening, as I was driving home, I saw the problem happen again, clear as day. Well, that Saturday, I was out running errands. While I was stopped at the intersection of Puzzle Street and Riddle Avenue, I looked out the window at the crosswalk timer again, and what I saw explained everything. What did I see and what's the explanation?

The intended answer:

The crosswalk timer was working correctly the entire time. However, when I saw the timer during my commute, I saw it from an angle where the two rightmost segments of the display were hidden, causing 6 to look identical to 8, and 5 to look identical to 9. I thought that I could tell what numbers I was seeing, and so it didn't even occur to me that I couldn't see the entire number. On Saturday, I went through the intersection a different way and saw the timer from a different angle. After I saw it working correctly, I finally realized why I had thought it was broken.

Similar existing puzzles:

The broken crosswalk timer – A very similar puzzle, but in this one, the display really is broken. The solution involves explaining exactly how it's broken. Sequence seen on the street – This puzzle is similar to the one above (but not so similar to mine). The display really is broken, and furthermore, it's not a crosswalk timer; it's some other kind of timer which counts up. A strange sight in London – This one is very similar to mine, but more complex. In this puzzle, there are "numbers which appeared to be counting up but which then switched to counting down." Actually, it looks like nobody ever posted an explanation of that part! I'm guessing that the intended explanation of that is exactly the same as the explanation for my puzzle.

Answer 25

knowledge computer-science limerick

These many strings of digits unique
First made from space and time so to speak
The same for my second
Three 'n' five: names reckoned,
And my fourth has a random technique

What is the limerick about?

---

How I think the lines are to be read, based on this guide:

These many strings of digits unique
these-ma-NY strings-of-DI gits-u-NIQUE

First made from space and time so to speak
first-made-FROM space-and-TIME so-to-SPEAK

The same for my second
the-same-FOR my-sec-OND

three 'n' five: names reckoned,
three-n-FIVE names-reck-ONED

And my Fourth has a random technique
and-my-FOURTH has-a-RAN dom-tech-NIQUE

I don't think this is a hard one. I would definitely like help on making it scan/read better as a limerick.

Answer 26

I am working on a new puzzle type similar to crossword. Maybe it exists, I haven't seen it before. I am not great at explaining things clearly, can you review the directions and propose updates to the rules to make them easier to understand?

I placed "PUZZLE" of length 6 near the bottom as an example.

GRID: (don't worry about any clues, just proofing instructions)

DRAFT RULES:
Crossweb rules:
Almost every clue is a definition-less cryptic clue. Word lengths are given.
All clues except the final answer have the same definition (guess what).
Place a letter in each circle. Only crossed letters appear in circles.
Each word begins at a circle numbered by its length, heading off in some direction. Each number can indicate multiple words of the same length.
Each word must start and end with a crossed letter, and run in a reasonably straight line.
You may fill in uncrossed letters on the lines if it helps you keep track of things-but it is not required and ambiguities are permitted.
The vertical line going through 6,8 IS bent; any bend less than this is considered straight.
Any circles connected in a straight line are part of the same word.

This is difficult but can be filled in with logical deduction. Feel free to add in your logical reasoning as to how you filled the web.

Important reminder to get you started: Look at the '7' at the top center. A word of length 7 must necessarily head downwards from there, as the lines leading left and right from the '7' are parallel and thus part of a single word which must necessarily have length 6, beginning in the top right corner and ending in the top left corner. (Because of these two nodes, only '6' is labeled as a possible starting node).

Answer 27

I wasn't a proud man who pursued my wife before she was mine. I never thought I was better than the one she already had. I didn't sleep with every woman I knew. I didn't love a woman because I had to have her. I didn't hate her for not wanting to be mine. I didn't have to have them all. I didn't destroy the place where we would stay.

What am I?

Answer 28

Everything after this point may contain a hint, so any edits will be reverted after this point, please take that into account when trying to edit.

---

Ohh errr I.... Say how about a challenge?

Here is is my story:

Iye went to a magic show the other day. It was a clever show about the human brain to pick up patterns in number sequences. The man was a Catalan person and often generalized. He was in the sixth order of magic and really like to do illusions with his eye. He handed me a paper with the following image. And asked what is next?

Oh yeah and we met at the Patalan club

Answer 29

I wear many hats

Prelude (not a part of the puzzle)

I've always been a fan of puzzles and I've lurked Puzzling.SE for a while on the occasional break. Now I have what I think to be an interesting enough puzzle, though I'd like feedback on it since this is my first time writing one.

The puzzle

We all wear different hats in life,

I am no exception.

As every different hat I wear

gives me a new connection.

---

The hat I sport while sporting

is the hat I treasure most.

"Fore!" with glee, I shout aloud,

and swing my club with strength.

Too late, I stay, and long I play,

'til weary, I adjourn.

Eight o'clock, the next morn,

to the course I return.

(Thirty-three - unluckily -,

times I've woken too late)

---

The cap that rests atop my head

presently is brand new.

For it, I have just acquired

to match my thinking shoes.

007 and sleuths alike

might place it on their crown,

To better see the mystery

and to solve, as they are renowned.

---

And so, I've given you a sampling

of my headwear collection.

Now I ask, dear reader,

"What hats do you wear?"

Edited in: the desired answer

Explanation of the riddle

Each section of the riddle refers to a Stack Exchange site I'm a part of. The numbers referenced in each line form my user number in that particular site, e.g. the first section refers to PPCG and my user number there is 42833 (Fore, too, eight, thirty three).

The desired response

Is a description of what SE sites the users who get it like, in similar cryptic verse. I could obviously change the last line to ask something like "what are my hats?" but I think it would be interesting to have people who've solved the riddle generate more clues for a perspective viewer.

Concerns

1. Clues are not cryptic enough (I think that parts of this are perhaps too easy to spot).

2. On the other end, I have concerns that there are parts that can't be inferred. Such as that you need to concatenate each number to make sense of it. I feel like this is common enough practice, but I'd like opinions.

3. Not enough aha! moments (by my count there are 2 major aha!s to be had)

4. The main aha! is too vague/cryptic

5. I am not the best poet. Near the end, especially, my verse becomes suspiciously close to prose. This sort of just felt like it was better suited for a poem, though, any thoughts on the quality? Does its lack thereof detract from the puzzle?

Comments and criticisms

Any comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated, especially suggestions, specifically on

How I can more cleverly disguise the number part

Please do let me know if anything is extremely unclear or if you think I've made a mistake! Also let me know if this has been done before (I would be very embarrassed if it had been and I posted it!).

Thanks in advance.

riddle rhyme (sort of) lateral-thinking

Answer 30

I recognise that sequence puzzles are not popular but I think this one's somewhat different and I have a preamble.

• Does that improve things?
• Do I need to say more? I'm not sure what else to say without making it too obvious...
• Is the six other values additional question worth asking?

number-sequence

This puzzle should brighten up your day although you might not have seen one in a while.

What's odd about the sequence below and how would you even it out?

There are six other related values we can have but why only six and what are they?

1111001

0110000

0010010

1111000

0011000